Devanjana Mukherjee, Khabri Media
The flash flood caused by extremely heavy rainfall not only left commuters stranded but also halted India-England Warm Up match.
Pic: Social Media
City life came to a halt after extremely heavy showers put a halt in the area creating long jams in clustered and busy streets. The rainfall, however, sent relief to the public after days of scorching heat thus keeping the mercury down all day long.
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Commuters were left stranded as public transport was moving at snail speed which led to a series of traffic congestion. The daily passengers showed their anger over the local municipality of Guwahati. A local resident, aged 57, even stated that this is not the first time that he has faced such a situation. Even an hour of heavy rainfall puts a stop sign in the busy life of people as it is an unplanned city and the government pays no heed to the situation.
Pic: Social Media
Creating a flash flood in Guwahati City, areas like Ulubaria, Hati gaon, Christian Basti, Lakhtokia, Maligaon, Maniram Dewan Road, RG Baruah Road, and so on faced severe congestion for hours. The flood water affected places like Fancy Bazaar, Panbazaar, Boripara Flyover, the newly constructed Nilachal Flyover (inaugurated in August 2023, and Baralmukh amongst many others.
The inland water transport department suspended the ferry services between North Guwahati and Guwahati due to the rise in the water level of the Brahmaputra River. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Regional Meteorological Centre issued a “yellow” warning along with a “burst of thunderstorms and lightning” followed by “heavy to very heavy rainfall” till the 4th of October.
The extremely heavy rainfall on Saturday not only affected the daily life of the commuters but also halted the India – England warm-up match. The 50,000-seater International Cricket Stadium witnessed a humongous crowd of fans cheering for both countries ahead of the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup, 2023.
Pic: Social Media
Located in the Barsapara area, Guwahati, people showed their anger and asked for a refund as the match even failed to start properly due to heavy showers and a flood-like situation in that area. The match was scheduled to start at 2:30 PM. At the beginning of the match, India had won the toss and chose to bat, but after the heavy downfall, the umpires announced that the ground was too wet to play after a proper inspection.
Assam Cricket Association (ACA) has announced that the cricket prices will be refunded to the spectators as the match failed to commence on the scheduled date and time due to incessant rain. The amount varied from Rs. 1000/- to Rs. 10,000/- for VIP seating arrangements. The stadium witnessed a houseful situation as people were very excited and looking forward to the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup which is about to start in the month of October in India itself.
According to the Met Department, the city received 56 mm of rainfall while the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River recorded almost 104.5 mm of rainfall. Apart from this, areas around the international airport of Guwahati named Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport received a downpour of 33mm. However, there wasn’t any news of air traffic diversion or flight delaying situation.
The Met Department also stated that they had predicted the rainfall situation a day ago thus suggesting that there was a 49% chance of downpour during the day followed by a 78% chance during the night. However, what the government organization failed to predict was a flash flood-like situation in Guwahati City.
